Robert Aliber – Manias, Panics, and Crashes A History of Financial Crises

Manias, Panics, and Crashes, Fifth Edition is an engaging and entertaining account of the way that mismanagement of money and credit has led to financial explosions over the centuries. Covering such topics as the history and anatomy of crises, speculative manias, and the lender of last resort, this book puts the turbulence of the financial world in perspective. The updated fifth edition expands upon each chapter, and includes two new chapters focusing on significant financial crises of the last fifteen years.

From the Back Cover

Finance

“Underneath the hilarious anecdotes, the elegant epigrams, and the graceful turns of phrase, Kindleberger is deadly serious. The manner in which human beings earn their livings is no laughing matter to him, especially when they attempt to do so at the expense of one another. As he so effectively demonstrates, manias, panics, and crashes are the consequence of an economic environment that cultivates cupidity, chicanery, and rapaciousness rather than a devout belief in the Golden Rule.”
—from the Foreword to the Fourth Edition by Peter L. Bernstein,

author of Against the Gods and The Power of Gold

Praise for previous editions of Manias, Panics, and Crashes

“Classic…Manias, Panics, and Crashes is a durable guide to meditation: wise, witty, and practical. It is a template against which to measure the latest financial crisis—whatever and whenever that happens to be.”
—David Warsh, The Boston Globe

“Definitive.”
—Floyd Norris, The New York Times

“[Manias, Panics, and Crashes] is a scholarly account of the way that mismanagement of money and credit has led to financial explosions over the centuries.”
—Richard Lambert, Financial Times

“What long has been the best history of financial pathologies is now even better. The reader who absorbs Kindleberger′s lessons will be prepared to foresee and navigate the financial crises that surely lie ahead. Like a true classic, Manias, Panics, and Crashes is both timely and timeless.”
—Richard Sylla, Kaufman Professor of Financial History

Stern School of Business, New York University

About the Author

Charles P. Kindleberger was the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT for thirty–three years. He is a financial historian and prolific writer who has published over thirty books. Manias, Panics, and Crashes is his most popular book.

ROBERT ALIBER is a Professor of International Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where he has been a faculty member since 1965.